stories from

Thursday, January 02, 2014

2014

The Barrow County Sheriff's Office reported the following incidents:
SUSPICIOUS PERSON: On Dec. 28, a deputy was dispatched to Jeffords Road, Winder, where a woman said she saw a man wearing all black clothing standing behind her house.

A burglar broke through the back window of a home in the 600 block of Whit Davis Road between 5:30 p.m. Monday and 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and stole an iPad with its case and a laptop computer, altogether valued at $935, Athens-Clarke County police said.

A 22-year-old Loganville man was reaching into his pocket to get money to pay for his meal when one of his fingers got caught in the .45-caliber pistol’s trigger guard and caused the weapon to fire, police said.

The bullet passed through his seat then ricocheted off the floor and landed on top of the chair, police said.

A citizen’s complaint about an apparent drug transaction at an eastside apartment complex early Thursday resulted in the arrests of three men on drug and weapons charges, Athens-Clarke County police said.

Officers responded to Clarke Gardens on a 911 call complaining about a group of men who appeared to be making a drug transaction, police said.

LONDON — Nigella Lawson says having her private life raked over in a London courtroom was "mortifying" but she is putting the case behind her.

The celebrity cook testified last month at the fraud trial of two former aides, who were ultimately acquitted of funding a luxury lifestyle with credit cards loaned to them by Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi.

The trial was overshadowed by allegations about Lawson's and Saatchi's domestic life, including claims that Lawson regularly used cocaine.

Dr. David Mills will take the reigns as the pastor of Beech Haven Baptist Church in Athens starting Sunday.
Mills moved to Athens with his wife, Michelle, and their four children. Mills is the fourth pastor the church has had in its 55-year history.

BRUNSWICK - A south Georgia bank director accused of losing millions of investor dollars before vanishing was homeless and worked odd jobs before his arrest earlier this week, a U.S. marshal told a federal judge Thursday.
U.S.

A law governing community gardens heads to the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission in February.
The planning commission unanimously approved the ordinance with no discussion Thursday night after making tweaks to it a month prior.

A 1-year-old boy was found walking naked on a road in west Athens after a baby-sitter abandoned him and his infant twin sisters on New Year's Eve, according to an Athens-Clarke County police incident report released Thursday.

Officials said Thursday that a more than 30-count indictment charges 38-year-old Qadir Shabazz with conspiracy to defraud the federal government, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and theft of government funds.

JACKSON, Miss. — An adult entertainer goes to trial this month for what authorities say was her role in arranging unlicensed buttocks injections that killed a Georgia woman in 2012.

Authorities say 37-year-old Karima Gordon of Atlanta paid $200 to Natasha Stewart, a model and adult entertainer who uses the name Pebbelz Da Model, for a referral to the alleged injector. She's charged with depraved-heart murder and other charges.

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Police in an Atlanta suburb are investigating after a young man's body was found face-down in a creek behind a middle school.

Johns Creek police spokesman Doug Nurse says the body was found by a couple walking their dog around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, about a quarter mile from Taylor Road Middle School in Johns Creek. Nurse said the man was found face down in the creek trapped under a log.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A south Georgia bank director accused of losing millions of investor dollars before vanishing was homeless and working odd jobs before his arrest earlier this week, a U.S. marshal told a federal judge Thursday.

U.S. District Judge James Graham in Brunswick formally notified Aubrey Lee Price of the charges against him. The 47-year-old was arrested Tuesday during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in the coastal Georgia city. The judge set a bond hearing for Monday in Savannah.

The California Supreme Court granted a law license Thursday to a man who has lived in the U.S. illegally for two decades, a ruling that advocates hope will open the door to millions of immigrants seeking to enter other professions such as medicine, accounting and teaching.

Snapchat, the disappearing-message service popular with young people, has been quiet following a security breach that allowed hackers to collect the usernames and phone numbers of some 4.6 million of its users.

WASHINGTON — More than half of female Marines in boot camp can’t do three pullups, the minimum standard that was supposed to take effect with the new year, prompting the Marine Corps to delay the requirement, part of the process of equalizing physical standards to integrate women into combat jobs.

The delay rekindled sharp debate in the military on the question of whether women have the physical strength for some military jobs, as service branches move toward opening thousands of combat roles to them in 2016.

NEW YORK - Civil rights groups took the first step Thursday in appealing a finding by a federal judge in New York City that the National Security Agency's collection of Americans' phone records is legal.

BOSTON — A storm expected to bring more than a foot of snow, stiff winds and punishing cold pushed into the Northeast on Thursday, extending Christmas break for some students while posing the first test for New York’s new mayor and perhaps the last challenge for Boston’s outgoing one.

SAN FRANCISCO — The FBI said Thursday a fire at the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco was ignited in front of the building, leading to an arson investigation and calls from the Chinese government for better protection of diplomats in the U.S.

No one was hurt in the fire Wednesday night fire that charred the building's doorway, damaged the lobby and burned upward toward the roof.

FBI spokesman Peter Lee said the blaze was caused by an "incendiary device," but didn't specify what it was. No bomb-making materials were found, and there were no traces of an explosion, he said.

LONDON — The New York Times and Guardian newspapers have called for clemency for Edward Snowden, saying that the espionage worker-turned-privacy advocate should be praised rather than punished for his disclosures.

The papers — both of which have played a role in publishing Snowden's intelligence trove — suggested late Wednesday that the former National Security Agency contractor's revelations about the United States' world-spanning espionage program were of such public importance that they outweighed any possible wrongdoing.

BEIRUT — An explosion tore through a crowded commercial street Thursday in a south Beirut neighborhood that is bastion of support for the Shiite group Hezbollah, killing at least five people, setting cars ablaze and sending a column of black smoke above the Beirut skyline.

The nature of the blast that hit during rush hour in the Haret Hreik neighborhood was not immediately clear, but a Lebanese security official said it appeared to be caused by a car bomb. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

CANBERRA, Australia — A helicopter rescued all 52 passengers from a research ship that has been trapped in Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve after weather conditions finally cleared enough for the operation Thursday.

HARTFORD, Conn. — Light snow was falling Thursday in parts of the Northeast as a winter storm bore down on the region, promising significant snowfall, strong winds and frigid temperatures that will make commutes hazardous for the first work day of the new year.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After a troubled rollout, President Barack Obama's health care overhaul now faces its most personal test: How will it work as people seek care under its new mandates?

Most major pieces of the Affordable Care Act take full effect with the new year. That means people who had been denied coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition can book appointments and get prescriptions.

The Oconee County Sheriff's Office reported the following incidents:
GUTTERS STOLEN: On Dec. 22, Deputy Timothy Kirkham was dispatched to a home on Barnett Ridge, where a woman reported the theft of some gutters valued at $125.

Every year, the 236 members of the Georgia General Assembly gather in Atlanta, and more often than not, one legislative initiative or another will draw the ire of Georgia citizens, here and elsewhere around the state.

The Georgia men's tennis team is ranked No. 3 in the 2014 ITA preseason rankings released Thursday.
Virginia is ranked No. 1 followed by UCLA, Georgia, USC, Ohio State, Tennessee, Duke, Baylor, Kentucky and Oklahoma to round out the top 10.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Ohio State's UrbanMeyer has never had any issue acclimating to the biggest stages in college football. Clemson's Dabo Swinney is sounding like someone who's getting comfortable under the brightest lights as well.